Philly City Council voted to condemn the Hamas attack against Israel | Council roundup

Philadelphia City Council voted Thursday to condemn the Hamas attacks against Israel and call for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — an action that drew scores of people to City Hall, where they packed Council chambers, gave passionate testimony, and briefly disrupted proceedings on several occasions.

Most of those in attendance were opposed to the resolution, which stated that Council was “condemning the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel and calling for a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.”

It passed in a unanimous voice vote, but not before a lengthy and heated showdown during public comment. After one disruption, Council President Darrell L. Clarke cut off the comment period and asked those who could not speak to submit written testimony.

» READ MORE: Thousands rally for Israel, denounce Hamas attacks in march through Center City

Resolutions are symbolic statements of Council’s stances on important issues. Thursday’s measure, authored by Councilmembers Kenyatta Johnson and Mike Driscoll, was co-sponsored by the 13 other members of Council.

Council President Darrell L. Clarke began the meeting by noting that an “unprecedented” number of people had signed up for public comment. He limited each speaker to 90 seconds instead of the usual three minutes and said both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian voices were represented on the list of speakers.

As people in the crowd shouted over speakers, Clarke tried to maintain order.

» READ MORE: Palestinian students and supporters walk out of classes as donors accuse Penn of antisemitism and close their checkbooks

“If you’re not going to be civil in here as it relates to allowing people to speak, then you’re going to be out of here,” Clarke said.

Minutes later, he had security remove several people from the chambers. One woman who was being removed appeared to have collapsed as she exited the chambers, pausing the meeting for several minutes. She eventually got to her feet and walked off under her own power.

Clarke cut off the comment period when the meeting resumed. He said after the meeting that it was the first time he ever had to cut off public comment in his 12 years as Council president.

Speakers opposed to the resolution said Israel was a colonial state killing innocent Palestinians.

“Genocide will not be endorsed in my name,” Nour Qutyan said. “Israel is an apartheid state committing real crimes against a stateless people.”

Several leaders in Philadelphia’s Jewish community thanked Council for taking up the measure.

“Hamas’ attack was not just an act of terror committed against the state of Israel, but an act of terror committed against all Jewish people,” said Jonathan Goldman, chair of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition.

After public comment, Johnson gave a speech emphasizing that the 353-word resolution “specifically acknowledges Palestinians’ suffering and loss“ and calls for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who is Muslim, said he read the resolution three times before agreeing to support it. Condemning Hamas for kidnapping and murdering innocent people, he said, is not antithetical to supporting justice for oppressed people.

But he also said that the resolution “does not go deep enough to understand the hundreds of years of history in that land” and compared Israel’s response to the attacks to heavy-handing policing tactics that target entire neighborhoods while looking for a handful of criminals.

“You can’t blow up the projects looking for a few,” he said. “That is not fair. That is not just.”

Once again, not much. For most of the fall, Council has been doing little else aside from considering symbolic resolutions.

This week, lawmakers took up three resolutions on final passage. In addition to the Israel-Palestine statement, lawmakers approved a measure “calling on the administration to develop grant programs for businesses and restaurants suffering from retail theft and crime” and another renaming a street “Sid Booker Way” to honor the famous North Philly fried shrimp purveyor.

The slow pace of legislation will change soon. Numerous bills are making their way through the process, including 25 measures that passed out of the Streets and Services Committee this week.